Take your vitamins

There was some news a while back that Vitamin D could help against the Wuhan Coo-coo Flu Virus Bug Thing.  More news this morning.

I've been taking Vitamin D.  Maybe it helps, but it is always a good idea to get your winnamins.

While you're at it, eat your veggies.

Xbox

It may be a curious thing for a plus-sixty-year-old guy to be buying an Xbox. That would seem more like a kid's thing. If not kid stuff, it may be a bit of a kid-at-heart kind of thing.

But this has a serious purpose. The idea here is to train in the driving of a vehicle with a trailer. Therefore, something is required. It isn't practical at this time to move this trailer, so I cannot practice with that. I needed something and this was the handiest thing. So here I am.

It so happens that this Xbox has a Truck Driving Game available for it so that I what I got.

I'm going to practice doing some moves with a semi-truck on this Xbox and I hope that it will have some transferable skills. If so, the very idea of learning a skill like this may be expandable to a whole set of skills.

It's the not first time I've bought a simulator to learn a skill. I have had a couple of flight simulators for my personal computers. As for Xbox, I don't know if one is available. I am almost positive that there has to be one. But this isn't on my docket as for now. By the way, I have never flown a real plane. Never got around to it.

Another idea that I may implement is to make videos of the games. You can do that with the Xbox.

That is all for now.

LA is defunding police

I thought you might enjoy reading this article I just came across:

 

Polls don't favor this approach, although RINOS may favor it

Bongino show 6/4/20

Perhaps the most dangerous thing right now is this group of politicians and military people who may be attempting to stage a mutiny against the authority of the President.

It doesn't surprise me. There are a LOT of Obama holdovers and a LOT of former officials who would like nothing better than to see Trump either defeated in the election or removed by whatever means they think that they can get away with. These could be desperate characters who may be fearful of what could be coming their way. That thing that could be coming their way is the possibility of ACCOUNTABILITY.

I've been saying this all along. Trump is being hamstrung. Now that there is considerable unrest in the nation due to absolutely NOTHING that Trump has done, it is now being considered in some places to overrule his authority, or even stage something of a coup.

This is all being staged. If they cannot convince the public, then they may resort to violence.

Bongino seems worried about this. But it shouldn't be a surprise. The RINOS in the House and the Senate have been in on this from Day One. Many of them are mouthing support of the POTUS, but how deep does that really go?

I'd like to think that insurrection is confined to a fairly small group. Unfortunately, that small group can cause a lot of trouble. If I am wrong, and the group is a lot bigger, then this may not end well. Not for anybody.

George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus

Reports at the time of his death said he complained that he couldn't breathe.  Difficulting in breathing is a symptom of the disease, but they won't say that this was a factor in his death.

Very curious.

startribune.com : "Riots, arson leave Minnesota communities of color devastated"

This story from StarTribune.com has been sent to me and is being shared here on this blog.
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The full story, with any associated images and links can be viewed here.

 

Riots, arson leave Minnesota communities of color devastated

By Maya Rao Star Tribune

June 2, 2020 — 9:38pm

As fire and riots raged around Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue last week, several employees of an American Indian nonprofit called Migizi stayed behind to guard their building.

They wrote “native youth center” on the window to discourage attacks. Members of the American Indian Movement came to help. But rioters set fire to the block anyway. The inferno forced out the building’s protectors around 3:30 Friday morning.

When the nonprofit’s executive director, Kelly Drummer, returned to the scene a few hours later and saw the destruction, she said, “I knelt down and I just cried.”

The riots and arson that followed protests of George Floyd’s death have devastated organizations and businesses that serve communities of color. Destruction from the south side’s Lake Street to West Broadway in north Minneapolis has hit immigrant- and minority-owned businesses already struggling amid the pandemic-induced shutdown. Now, ethnically diverse neighborhoods are grappling with the loss of jobs, services and investments.

“People right now are going to want to stay away from Lake Street and that is understandable,” said Ricardo Hernandez, who owns an ice cream shop there called La Michoacana Purepecha. Workers gave away free Popsicles over the weekend after the shop lost power in the riots.

“It’s very hard to see your whole life savings go down like this. We used up all our money to build something nice for ... not just the Latino community, but everybody,” Hernandez said.

Although La Michoacana Purepecha had only minor damage from vandals, he expects a loss of business as many nearby establishments burned and the area remains under threat. His 20 employees, all Latino, are out of work until the neighborhood returns to normal.

On the same block, immigrant Luis Tamay saved for more than a decade to open his Ecuadorian restaurant, El Sabor Chuchi, seven years ago. His specialty was a soup called encebollado, made with tuna fish, yuca, fried plantain and onions. Tamay guarded his lifelong dream the first few nights of the riots, but stayed home on Friday night to abide by the curfew, assuming that he had nothing to fear with the National Guard in town.

He was aghast to see Facebook videos showing El Sabor Chuchi in flames — and even more so when he called 911 for help in vain. By the time Tamay got to his restaurant Saturday morning, it was burned to the ground, along with establishments on either side. He didn’t have insurance, he said, because quotes for the neighborhood were too high. The father of two was already working hard to pay his employees and other bills.

“There’s the freezer right there; the kitchen was right there,” Tamay said, pointing as he climbed the pile of rubble. “Seventeen years of work is gone.”

A building owned by Latina entrepreneur Maya Santamaria also burned down — and with it, the Spanish language radio station La Raza.

“Small, minority business owners found themselves with the businesses that they worked their fingers to the bone building destroyed, looted, vandalized and burned down,” Santamaria wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Some had no insurance. Others have no resources.”

Jeff Lusuer empathized with the protesters as he boarded up his West Broadway barbershop, where looters had broken in and stole some supplies. His other barbershop, on Lake Street, burned down amid the riots. Lusuer said his insurance should cover the losses, and that people have a right to be angry and the protests are a way to get their point across. As a black man, he said, he’s fed up with police too.

“Even though it hurt my businesses, I understand,” Lusuer said. As unrest grew last week, Areal Crawford noticed that some establishments on Lake Street highlighted the fact that they were owned by people of color in hopes of warding off attacks. The Himalayan Restaurant across the way had posted “minority-owned business,” and A & M Disaster Services nearby posted signs that said “Black owned.”

Crawford’s family lives off 29th Avenue behind O’Reilly Auto Parts, which was tagged with graffiti and burglarized. He feared that if arsonists set fire to the building it would quickly engulf his family’s home a few feet away. So he picked up a can of spray paint left by vandals and wrote: “Please don’t burn black home next door thanks.”

“I saw the minority-owned business signs going up and thought, ‘If that’s what it takes to get people to not burn [expletive] down, then that’s what it takes,’ ” Crawford said.

His father, Ken Crawford, stood guard at O’Reilly for days as rioters with golf clubs, baseball bats and tire irons trawled the neighborhood. He said he told them that if they set the building on fire that he had a gun and wasn’t afraid to use it. The antagonists were racially mixed at first, he said, but were nearly all white by Thursday night as protesters took over the Third Precinct. What troubled him and his family most, including wife Nina Sobotta, was that many of the troublemakers appeared to be outsiders.

“I don’t want people from different neighborhoods coming to tear up my stuff — this is all we’ve got,” said Ken Crawford, scanning the lot behind his house, which was littered with Cub Foods shopping carts that had been dumped by looters.

“Now the whole community is suffering,” he said.

Back at the 43-year-old nonprofit Migizi, which supports American Indian youth, Drummer recalled how she had helped raise $2 million to move into the new building on S. 27th Avenue last summer. The restaurant Gandhi Mahal, a few doors down, sent over food for the grand opening.

On Friday afternoon, Drummer gazed at the charred Migizi building as 20 officers formed a phalanx to block off the street and firefighters trained their hoses on the collapsed, smoldering Gandhi Mahal. That restaurant, too, had posted a minority-owned business sign.

“We’re policing ourselves,” Drummer said. “They didn’t care until after the building burned.”

While staff managed to save important cultural items from the fire, the loss of the space will be felt by young people, said youth development specialist LeVi Boucher.

“They have said, ‘Migizi is my home and I’m watching it burn’ and it didn’t have to be that way,” Boucher said.

Though not the epicenter of the riots, West Broadway also saw a string of businesses raided and damaged. It had been the city’s pre-eminent commercial corridor in the mid-20th century but was devastated by the flight of white and black middle-class residents after the 1960s race riots and the burning of nearby Plymouth Avenue. Broadway has gradually seen progress as business and community leaders pushed for redevelopment.

“You got the sense that [West Broadway] was slowly making its way forward,” said Don Samuels, a former school board and City Council member representing the area.

So he was horrified to see the raiding of Broadway Liquor Outlet and the gutting of U.S. Bank and other structures. Looters also hit a Walgreens and Cub Foods, the main grocery store in the area, which suffered damage. Now, residents of the mostly black neighborhood have no convenient way to get food and other supplies.

“Will it bounce back in a year or two or is this a death blow for decades?” Samuels asked. “Will people have the resources to rebuild?”

 

Maya Rao • 612-673-4210

Where are the details about so-called "protests"

6.4.20 Update:

Once again, I go on a search for information, only to find more hand-wringing type rhetoric. My usual haunts are failing me. It looks like I need new sources of information.

The questions are the basics of what used to be taught in basic journalism: the five w's-- who, what, when, where, and why. It is becoming a bit too commonplace to see complete disregard of basic factual reporting.

Very disappointing.

Update 6.2.20:

I did another search for information yesterday and still found little.  It looks like most Walmarts are open in Houston.

As for Target, I didn't look.

Today, I went on an errand.  There wasn't time to read the news.  It seems that there was more trouble last night.  As for what happened in Houston, I haven't got that far in my online peregrinations.

I'll keep looking around.  As for my neck of the woods, things seem almost normal.  Too many people are paranoid around here.  Too many masks.  There hasn't been a Kung-Phooey-Flu case in over a month.  Nor have there been riots around here that I know of.  Not even a discouraging word.

6.1.20:

There may be a news blackout about these "protests". The website for the Houston Chronicle does not have much about the store closures, only that there are "hundreds" of Walmarts and Targets that are being closed all across the country.

The website called "chron.com" is the online version of the Houston Chronicle. It reads like an almost normal day, but the reporting is like the whole nation is on fire. Quite the contrast.

How bad is it? Which stores are being closed in Houston? It might be instructive as to which stores are closing. Since I am a former resident of Houston, it would be interesting for me to know this, but the details are missing.

There is a lot of extraneous material on the website, and I am trying to limit data usage. So, I am not going to spend a lot of time and bandwidth looking for information like this. It appears to be buried. That leaves me with a thought that this reporting is basically national, so as to direct the attention at that level. Why?

I suspect that the news is being massaged once again. It's getting harder than it should be to get basic facts. Evidently, these "news organizations" show you only what they want you to see.

Will says GOP now a Trumpist cult

6.4.20: Update:

In contrast to the Bush type, Will seems to be the type that tries to piss off everybody. That's how his Wikipedia entry reads. Supposedly he is a conservative because he pisses off liberals. Supposedly he is a Libertarian. Maybe that could be accurate since Libertarians can never be elected. He doesn't try to get approval. He seems to be the type that thrives from others' anger at him.   Many in the GOP now hate him as a traitor.

Maybe he is a Libertarian because nobody expects much of Libertarians. In my opinion, Libertarians aren't serious people. Neither is Will.

Libertarians may be useful by taking principled stands. Unfortunately, the principles involved are in no way realistic. Will isn't a jackass, he is just a jerk.

6.7.19:

Comment:

Will says GOP is afraid of Trump, so that makes them a cult.

I guess going along with the leftists who want to impeach and remove Trump on the basis of political disagreement--- is also a cult.  That's because that's what has happened.  If the GOP won't remove Trump from office, it is only because they are "afraid of him".  "Trump has no ideas", claims  adds Will. ( corrected for clarity )

For a guy who has no ideas, he seems to have a lot of initiatives.  For those other guys who supposedly have all the ideas, they seem to be limp as a dishcloth.  Jeb said that the GOP needs to copy the Dems.  Great ideas you got there, Georgie.

Will wants to identify conservatism in his own way, which includes open borders and unlimited free trade.  He claims that is what all the GOP once believed, but if that is true, why would they abandon it?  Will doesn't know, so it must be a Trumpist cult at work.

Maybe the GOP really never did believe in anything, anyway.  They sure seem to be acting that way to me.  That little bow tie seems to fit well on Little Georgie.

George Will: GOP has become a 'cult' of Trump https://t.co/j9LQKqg1Hr

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) June 7, 2019

Media Falsely Claimed Violent Riots Were Peaceful And That Tear Gas Was Used Against Rioters

Media Falsely Claimed Violent Riots Were Peaceful And That Tear Gas Was Used Against Rioters: The media glommed onto the narrative that Trump was a monster who tear-gassed peaceful protesters to do something meaningless. None of that was true.

D'Souza: 'Antifa is True Descendant of Mussolini's Black Shirts, Hitler's Brown Shirts,' a Paramilitary

 

 

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Here's Wikipedia's entry about D'Souza.  There are those who say that Wikipedia has turned leftist.  That wouldn't surprise me.

 

The article about D'Souza is pretty negative.  However, I think Wikipedia's entry about the guy is extremely misleading and one-sided.  There was plenty about Obama that was dead-on accurate.

D'Souza: 'Antifa is True Descendant of Mussolini's Black Shirts, Hitler's Brown Shirts,' a Paramilitary

(Getty Images) While discussing Antifa's role in the riots and looting in U.S. cities, conservative scholar and best selling author Dinesh D'Souza said the organization is the "true descendant" of radical left socialist paramilitary groups, such as Mussolini's Black Shirts and Hitler's Brown Shirts. He added that Antifa has melded its Marxism with "identity politics," such as "racial"...

Read More  |   Print & PDF

You can't please everyone

There is a saying that if you try to please everybody, you just make everybody mad at you.

Former President George W. Bush is playing up the same people who were calling him a monkey. That has to stick in the craw of those who supported him thick and thin when they were savaging him like they are savaging President Trump now.

These people will never like "Dubya", so why play up to them? It is the same kind of thing that the late Senator John McCain did. By the way, there are reports that former Senator Hagel is going to support Biden. The former Senator from Nebraska did not support Bush while Bush was POTUS, but they are now in sympathy with one another.

It just goes to show you that these people really weren't opposed to the Democrats after all.  Their purported opposition was just a ruse.

All they are accomplishing with their obvious lack of support for Trump is to show why they cannot be an effective opposition to the Democrats.

If those like Bush resume their former position of leadership of the GOP,  the GOP will become a rump party with very few members. If all you can do is to agree with the opposition, then you aren't an opposition party yourself.   There's no reason for your existence.

In playing up to the Democrats who savaged him, Bush isn't gaining their love, he's only earning the contempt of his former supporters. You can't please everyone. Sometimes, you have to take a stand.

Bush said some questionable things that implied criticism of Trump. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so false. Trump isn't suppressing dissent. He is restoring order.

Bush is being a jackass here.

Beware of dishonesty from all directions

It has been a long-held view of mine that there are many who claim to be conservative, and aren't really.

These are the ones who called themselves as being "on the right".  Ronald Reagan didn't subscribe to that view of himself.  Indeed, I think Reagan had the right idea when he said there is no right v. left.  It isn't about right v. left.  It's about freedom v. tyranny.

I strongly suspect those on the so-called right who seem to be overplaying this riot and protest thing.

I also strongly suspect those in the media which refuse to condemn those who resort to criminal behavior while claiming that it is mere protest.

It isn't about being "in the middle" either.  Truth and lies are diametrically opposed.  Those who subscribe to the right v. left paradigm are Marxist in nature regardless of which side they claim to be on.  Marxists of all stripes are no friends to the truth.

I believe Reagan had more or less this view and so do I.  Therefore, be on the lookout for those who seem to be trustworthy and claim to be conservative, yet are hyping this thing.

I'm not saying that there isn't any rioting.  But when I hear statements like "America is burning down", I am a bit suspicious.  Maybe parts of the country are seeing trouble, but America is a very big country.  I'd say the vast majority of this country is in good shape.  There are a few troublemakers out there and they are raising a lot of Cain right now.  But don't be fooled no matter who the source is.

Sharyl Attkisson: More info about George Floyd arrest

 (WATCH) Additional camera views of George Floyd arrest (READ) Arrest complaint against ex-officer

comment:

I didn't watch the video but read the description.  It appears that Floyd was already experiencing distress before he was pinned to the ground.  Autopsy shows a heart condition.

This is police misconduct apparently, combined with a health condition.

It is not murder, but more like manslaughter.

Just my opinion based upon what I read.

Information warfare

5.31.20:  Update:

It looks like the war is becoming quite overt.  New York City Mayor De Blasio is blaming Trump for the riots.  

Nope.  That might work on the others who you have subjugated.  You did this on your own, pinkos.

It should also become apparent that the people who died in those nursing homes in New York did not do so because of some mistake.  It was a deliberate act, just like these riots.

Biden is claiming that all of this is as American as apple pie.   That's a lie.  These aren't protests.  These are riots.  It isn't a legitimate airing of grievances.   It is a pattern of anti-social attacks that are leading to more and more disorder and violence.

They do not respect the law, they do not want peace and order.  They want control.  "The beatings will continue until morale improves."  Those who are arrested deserve punishment.  Those who had no part in the matter of grievance have nothing to do with the punishment being meted out to them.  This is not justice on the part of the rioters.  To claim otherwise is yet another lie.

I hope the public will understand it that way.  The rioters should lose support, not gain it.

5.26.20: Update:

There is an 800# Gorilla in the room and everybody seems to be ignoring its presence. The "gorilla" is the left's attitude toward the rest of society. It is at war with society. People are in denial about this state of war. The corona virus scare is the latest manifestation of that war.

Trump has taken up this war and is returning fire. That is why he is so hated. Any President that does anything for this country is hated with a passion. This included all the GOP presidents that I can recall during my lifetime. Eisenhower was a bit before my time even though he was in the White House when I was born.

More than likely they won't touch Ike because he was too important during World War II. But he is also said to have been a bit soft. I can't recall. I was too young. I do remember Kennedy. But he was no pushover.

It seems that the Vietnam War was when the Democrats really turned hard left. It has been getting worse all the time. There used to be a phrase about politics which said that it ended "at the water's edge". Vietnam changed that. There is no consensus anymore. That's how something like this cannot be dealt with honestly but has to be politicized for all its worth.

I can agree that the virus is a thing. I cannot agree that it had to cause a lockdown of the entire country. It is my belief that this is an operation being run by the political left, which has become commie for all intents and purposes. It is at war with us.

Wake up and smell the rotten eggs.

Timeline for the liars blaming Trump.


CDC: Coronavirus 'does not spread easily' except for close contact with infected patients

( As in nursing homes?  They knew this )

2-21-19

It would seem that information is a weapon.  Indeed, the advantage of man over beast allows us to speak of an animal's imminent demise in the animal's presence, without that animal's understanding of its own imminent doom.  This capability of language is an informational advantage, and one must not underestimate its significance of human interaction as well.

In the book of warfare known as The Art of War, by Sun Tsu, there is a reference to this as well. Warfare is all about deception, as Sun Tsu points out.  Therefore, when someone employs information against you, it should be seen for what it is, an aggressive act.

This type of aggression has undoubtedly occurred throughout the long and bloody history of mankind.  You can be assured that it will be used against you.  Indeed, it has always been used against you, and everyone else, who uses against everyone else -- all the time.

It is a type of lying. For what is the purpose of lying, but to gain an advantage for oneself?

This runs pretty deep.   It is rather profound once you grasp it.   I wonder how many people in this country grasp it.  Probably not many.  Lying only works if somebody trusts the liar.  I note that there is way, way too much trust of what is generally passed about as information.  That information may be totally worthless, because it is not truthful.

Once the liar is spotted for what he is, he loses his advantage.  In fact, the lack of trust puts him at a disadvantage.

Anyway, this is a thought that I had this morning.  This blog has always been about truth, but that is not the way the world works.  It works on untruth.  Truth for the powerful, perhaps, BUT NOT FOR YOU.  You are just one of the sheep, which are to be slaughtered when the time comes.

As the old sitcom Laugh in joke line goes--- "Put that one in your Funk and Wagnalls."